The Wolf and The Lion
by Ithilmir
Summary: Untitled with a name and three of the four poems removed. Basically Valjean and Javert à la “The Lion and the Unicorn”.


**A/N:** Hello people! Whilst I was around I thought I might as well edit this a bit and cut down to the one poem – spare you the off-key Javert 'angst' and the daft Enjolras... birdie... thing. What remains is basically the same, and I haven't removed the previous reviews. Those who have read my bio will know I'm into Tolkien, and that kind of inspired this, along with a short nonsense rhyme from the English Civil War.

* * *

The Lion is a noble beast with a mane of golden fire;  
He lives within the hottest lands and the people call him 'sire'.  
The Wolf he lives in forests cold with snow around his lair;  
A cunning beast who howls at night and craftily sets a snare.  
Both within their homelands the Wolf and Lion were kings  
And they both ruled so wisely and the mountains heard them sing.  
But one day the Wolf and the Lion wondered what else was out there;  
So the Lion left his desert and the Wolf he left his lair.  
For days they travelled forward alone and without rest,  
The Lion came from out the East and the Wolf from out the West.  
Then finally in the middle, in a field where spring lambs bleat,  
The travellers came together and it happened that they meet.

The Wolf he looked at the Lion, confused by what he saw.  
"What have we here?" he asked, as he ground his bony jaw.  
"I smell in you a pussy cat, and cats they are my meat;  
But I see before me a noble beast with mighty paws and feet!"  
"You too to me are a puzzle," said the Lion with a frown.  
"You are to me a ferocious dog, and a dog who'd hunt me down!  
But it's strange; I do not fear you, though I see a doggish face.  
So it's clear to me that you must be from some other foreign race."  
The Wolf he was indignant, though he didn't lose his cool;  
He was by birth a cunning beast and no way was a fool.  
The Lion he was stronger and he was a mighty cat –  
But all in all, he was a dog and the Lion; he was a cat.  
"Indeed," he said politely. "I am a wolf you know.  
I come from West from my domain of winter, ice and snow."  
"And I," said the other. "I'm called a lion by name.  
I come from East, from sun and sand, and crowned with a golden mane."  
"Then you, who are so royal, just answer me one thing;  
Why do you leave your summer home where a cat is crowned the king?"  
"And I may ask the same," said the Lion, his voice a regal growl.  
"Why do you leave the ice and snow where the moon adores your howl?"  
"I come to see if there're greater things beyond the ice and snow."  
"I come to see if there're better things away where the night winds blow.  
Why do we not travel together; two lords to North and South?"  
"No thank you, sire," so barked the Wolf. "You go North, I'll go South!"  
The Lion he was offended. "Let us be friends," said he.  
"We're not so different, you and I, why don't you come with me?"  
The Wolf he thought that he might go; would it be bad to do that?  
But duty bound he was a dog and the Lion, he was a cat!  
The Wolf he circled round and then swiftly turned his back.  
"Go now, or I shall hunt you if you come across my track."  
The Lion turned now sadly and went to go his way,  
And the two kings wandered on alone maybe to meet again one day.

The Lion had travelled two days North and the weather began to chill.  
He thought of then the Western Wolf and his fabled hunting skill.  
But when another day'd passed by he felt something was wrong,  
And he turned back down towards the South and he heard a Wolf's sad song.  
Through fields and forests bitter he ran towards the sound  
Till he found the Wolf beneath a hunter's net pinned down to the ground.  
The Wolf he turned his head and growled. "Get away!" he cried.  
"If you come near I'll kill you, cat!" and the Wolf had never lied.  
But the Lion came on near him, no fear of danger in his eyes.  
"You can bark and bite all you want." Then he cut the grey Wolf's ties.  
The Wolf he stood astounded; free from his bonds at last;  
But it was a cat that set him free. He looked at him aghast.  
"Why did you do it?" the proud Wolf asked. "I'd have killed you there and then!"  
But the Lion simply smiled and said; "You can now choose where and when.  
I will be heading Northwards; I've already gone some way,  
You may hunt me down if you so wish, for I'm a cat as you say."  
So the Lion went on Northwards, the Wolf watched till he was gone,  
And before his eyes the Lion's mane in the twilight shone.  
The sun had set down in the West and the night now came on fast  
And the moon arose, but there was no howl like upon the evening last.

Now the Wolf he was a proud beast and he swore beneath his breath;  
"I'll get him one day! I'll follow North where he shall meet his death!"  
Yet the act of the Lion was mercy; now why did he do that?  
For the Wolf he was a purebred dog and the Lion, he was a cat.  
The Wolf walked on forlornly not knowing where to turn.  
Should he go North in pursuit of foe or South where the sun did burn?  
With a sigh he turned back Westwards, to the land of ice and snow,  
For he knew not where he was going, and homewards it must be so.  
But how could he face his followers? What would the pack say now?  
He was a fearsome, honoured beast to whom all his subjects bowed.  
No longer could he remain as the lord of ice and snow;  
And he turned and went out to the West, but where to I do not know.

The Lion he continued Northwards and then he came back South.  
He journeyed long and travelled West and crossed the river mouth;  
Yet he could not find the grey Wolf, not even in ice or snow –  
So he went back home into the East where one day the Wolf might go.


End file.
